HIGHER SPEED LIMITS KILL, STUDY SAYS.Byline: Steve Geissinger Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. A flat, two-lane stretch of California Highway 99 is known as ``Blood Alley,'' 20 miles of rural road where 16 people have died in the past year - a fourfold fourfold Adjective 1. having four times as many or as much 2. composed of four parts Adverb by four times as many or as much Adj. 1. increase from previous years. It's one of many highways around the country where police say Congress' 1995 decision to abolish the federal speed limit has had grisly results. Thirty-five states have raised their speed limits, and two new studies indicate that hundreds of people have died because of it. California Highway Patrol highway patrol n. A state law enforcement organization whose police officers patrol the public highways. Officer H.G. ``Tag'' Euritt doesn't need statistics. He's seen drinking, speeding and unsafe passing have deadly results on California 99. ``I grieve at the scene of the crash,'' Euritt said. ``I try to hold my emotions intact long enough to do my job. Then I go home, get on my knees and pray.'' In 1996, 32,317 people died in car crashes nationwide. And while the overall casualty rate on all roads All Roads is a 2001 interactive fiction game by Jon Ingold that placed first at the 2001 Interactive Fiction Competition. It also won the XYZZY Awards for Best Game, Best Setting and Best Story and was nominated for Best Individual Puzzle and Best Writing. is declining, it is going up on freeways where the speed limits have increased. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA, often pronounced "nit-suh") is an agency of the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government, part of the Department of Transportation. said in a February report to Congress that California and 31 other states with higher speed limits had about 350 more deaths on interstates in 1996 than the 3,530 they would have projected without the increase. In California alone, there was a 22 percent jump in deadly crashes in the first 10 months of 1996 on 70 mph roadways, from 330 to 403 deaths. Another study, by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is a U.S. non-profit organization funded by auto insurers. It works to reduce the number of motor vehicle crashes, and the rate of injuries and amount of property damage in the crashes that still occur. , an industry group, reported similar findings for the 12 states that were the first to increase their speed limits. In those states, there were 500 more deaths in crashes the last nine months of 1996 than would have been expected under lower limits. The reports indicate that the number of deaths may rise as other states raise their speed limits. ``We think this is the just the tip of the iceberg tip of the iceberg n. pl. tips of the iceberg A small evident part or aspect of something largely hidden: afraid that these few reported cases of the disease might only be the tip of the iceberg. ,'' said Henry Jasny of the Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, a consumer rights group based in Washington, D.C. The studies didn't impress the National Motorists Association The National Motorists Association (NMA) is a political advocacy group in the United States and Canada representing the interests of motorists. The primary focus of the NMA is to advocate for rational and fair traffic laws that reflect the desires and concerns of , which called them ``junk science Junk science is a term used in U.S. political and legal disputes that brands an advocate's claims about scientific data, research, analyses as spurious. The term generally conveys a pejorative connotation that the advocate is driven by political, ideological, financial, and .'' The group, which backed the speed limit increase, said the statistics should be adjusted for increased traffic, the number of miles driven, weather and other factors. ``There's no correlation between speed limits and highway fatalities,'' said Todd Franklin, a spokesman for the Waunakee, Wis.-based group. ``Causes of accidents have nothing to do with arbitrary numbers on signs.'' In Montana, which has no daytime speed limit, a 13-year-high in traffic deaths prompted lawmakers last year to consider a special legislative session to enact a limit, though the proposal was rejected. Through Thursday, Montana had 44 fatal highway crashes this year, up 18 from this time last year. |
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